Showing 1 - 6 of 6
Beware of rogue presidents (this time in Korea)
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/01/2025
» Turning yourself from a democratically elected president into a dictator is a tricky operation, and most people who try it fail. It's called a "self-coup", from the Spanish auto-golpe, and to try it without first gaining the support of the armed forces is sheer lunacy. Yet, from time to time, an elected president tries to do exactly that.
Syria: The rehabilitation of dictator Assad
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/05/2023
» There is no justice. Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator whose membership even the Arab League suspended 12 years ago, is off to Riyadh this week to celebrate his re-admission to the organisation. He will pay no price for his many crimes against humanity: the name of the game now is not retribution but 'rehabilitation'.
2 failed populist coups: Compare and contrast
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/01/2023
» Pundits are making much of the similarities between the attempted coup in Washington by Trump supporters two years ago and the one by Bolsonaro supporters in Brasilia on Jan 8, but they are missing the biggest one. These debacles were the most incompetent and half-hearted attempts to seize power illegally in the history of the world.
Will Hungary be outbreak's first casualty?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 04/04/2020
» 'Hello, dictator!" said Jean-Claude Juncker cheerily to Hungary's leader, Victor Orban, at a European Union summit meeting a couple of years ago. The president of the European Commission was only joking, of course, but it was gallows humour. Dictatorship was clearly where Mr Orban was heading -- and now he has arrived.
Abiy the lucky premier of Ethiopia
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/06/2019
» Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is a very lucky man. He has survived three attempts to kill or overthrow him in the past year.
The changing of Syria's demography
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/07/2018
» With the fall of Daraa last Friday, the end of Syria's civil war is within sight. What will Bashar al-Assad and his ruling Ba'ath Party do with their victory?